Since items in the local news RE bicycling, bicycles, bicyclists seem to come up periodically, let's have one thread to talk about them rather than starting a new one every time. These two items from the U-T today are what prompted this.

In the first case, I'm really wondering what the pedicab driver could have done (the story says "swerving") and *why for god's sake* to make this woman fall out and get injured so severely. And if it's determined that the driver is at fault, I seriously hope that he/she is treated just the same as any taxi driver who caused the death of a passenger. EDIT: the SDNN blurb says the driver "made a sudden move", which sounds like there were other circumstances in play, like traffic or road conditions, while the U-T story says "began swerving back and forth" which to my eye (ear?) would imply intentional carelessness. It will be interesting to see what comes out in the wash.

In the second, notice the mention that the mysteriously dead bicyclist was not wearing a helmet. Gah! Where in the "story" (which is really just a "newsblog" entry) does it suggest that this would have made any difference? The man was riding on a path, apparently alone, and suddenly his bike is crashed and he's dead, and the only thing anyone can think to say is "he wasn't wearing a helmet" so it must have by extension been somehow his fault? What?!?!

2nd story doesn't even indicate if it was a crash that killed him at all. I guess its implying it cause of the no helmet thing, but I am guessing by the location that he was on the path that goes along the san diego river. I've ridden that path a number of times and there could have been other situations of danger there. I've seen a lot of transient camps and kids doing drugs down there under the bridges. All the reporting i have seen in San Diego about bicycle accidents has seemed off. Even if its not a bias it seems to be dismissive at best.

Right, dismissive or just oblivious, bicycling is just not on any of the news organizations' radar. I mean, SDNN's featured story right now is "Drink on the Cheap in San Diego 7 Days a Week" while the story about the woman falling from the pedicab is several items down, and the story about the bicyclist found dead on the bike path does not even appear to be on their site at all. I had high hopes for SDNN after one of their very first features was about bicycling, but they clearly have no intention of making bicycle coverage any part of their mission.

The pedicab driver is going to be charged with manslaughter since the woman died and it seems he was the direct cause of it. A Turkish fella that is here on a non-working visa and marked down "sole proprietor" when he checked out the pedicab (they lease them for the day/week/etc). So they'll catch him from one angle or another.

Anyone ever hear anything about the bicyclist found dead on the bike path?

Apparently from what I read he fell from his bike and his head struck a rock killing him. Maybe that is why there was the early mention in the article of no helmet as only would have likely saved his life.

I also read that apparently the couple actually had fun and wanted him to ride in that manner before. I think the surviving widow told that to the detectives and seems like he doesn't really fault the guy.

Franz -- wow, I missed that. How did you hear that part? Inside connections at the SDPD or what?

I would think negligence on the part of the driver would still play a role in determining what charges, if any, will be filed. After all, the operator is supposed to know better than to do this kind of thing, even if the customer says they want to. I don't think the driver can be reproached for not having seat belts, since he didn't own the vehicle, but he certainly wasn't operating in a safe manner. If anything, the lack of belts should have made him *more* safety-conscious.

By the way, I almost have trouble admitting this on a bike forum, but I haaate pedicabs. And even more, I hate those things that people can rent in the park that seat four and they always ride on the frickin' sidewalk. But I digress...

thom:Franz -- wow, I missed that. How did you hear that part? Inside connections at the SDPD or what?

I would think negligence on the part of the driver would still play a role in determining what charges, if any, will be filed. After all, the operator is supposed to know better than to do this kind of thing, even if the customer says they want to. I don't think the driver can be reproached for not having seat belts, since he didn't own the vehicle, but he certainly wasn't operating in a safe manner. If anything, the lack of belts should have made him *more* safety-conscious.

I agree here. While it sucks that the guy may get into quite a bit of trouble he should know better than to do something unsafe just because a customer wants it- if you ask a taxi driver to drive unsafely and he does, he's liable for whatever happens, right?

<blockquote><cite> thom:</cite>By the way, I almost have trouble admitting this on a bike forum, but I haaate pedicabs. And even more, I hate those things that people can rent in the park that seat four and they always ride on the frickin' sidewalk. But I digress...</blockquote>

I don't mind pedicabs if they are handled well. There's a portagee lady who can literally spank most anyone here, she's FAST....

Sorry I keep posting bad news, but the way this story was headlined in both the U-T and SDNN you'd never know a bicycle was involved, so I wanted to bring it to the attention of the group. Apparently, the child was in a seat without a helmet (for kids, I make an exception to my "stop mentioning helmets" screed against the press) and her dad decided to go around closed trolley crossing gates. Really terrible. Stop at trolley gates! *Especially* with little ones aboard.

I'm personally worried about the "slippery slope". How long before bicyclists are next? I just talked to a coworker that strongly believes bikes don't belong on the road; that sentiment is awfully popular.

Also, why can't any vehicle take a parking spot, as long as they pay the fee?

Hm. You've got a point there Praxis, especially on the parking meter thing. I wonder if there's any interest in getting a Park(ing) Day group going in San Diego?

I think there's a strong enough bicycle movement, here and elsewhere, to fight the slippery slope effect, though. There's always a few "get off the road" types, but I'd like to believe we're changing minds. We've got momentum, and as we all know, momentum is a bicyclist's friend!

Some of the posts in this thread have been devoted to alerting other members about traffic accidents involving bicyclists in San Diego.

Bicycling, as do many other sports and outdoor activities, involves exposure to a certain set of risks: This set of risks is different from (but not necessarily any worse) than those exposed to by sitting on the couch in front of the TV eating chips and soda, or driving your car to the Bay Area or Las Vegas. I firmly believe that most of us here realize there are risks involved in riding a bicycle. However, at the very moment when we mount our bikes, I also believe we have willingly assumed those risks.

Why even bring up news about accidents involving bicyclists here? I am wondering if members of forums dedicated to other "activity sports" such has offroading, car, motor cycle and boat racing, yachting or ocean fishing find it necessary to post about accidents in their particular realm of sports - I think probably not!

If there is any collective learning for us to be gleaned from an accident, however, discussing it would indeed make sense: But the typical newspaper article about bike accidents reads something like: "Bicycle and car involved in accident on Sports Arena Blvd. in Loma Portal last night. The bike rider, a man in his 40s who did not wear a helmet, died instantly, according to the Police". The only thing to learn from this is not to ride a bicycle in Loma Portal (and certainly not at night!), which is an illogical conclusion, or worse yet, to decide not to ride at all. (The most non-sensical conclusion from the article would of course be to assume that the lack of helmet caused the deadly injuries, or even worse, that this very fact caused the accident and somehow made the bicyclist guilty, or even deserving, of the accident and own demise).

As contrast, a newspaper article rarely mentions something truly useful, something like: "Witnesses say that the rider was intending to head straight through the intersection, but failed to take the through lane: Instead, he stayed in the inside of the right-turn lane and was hooked by a car turning right", or "The bicyclist rode in the wrong direction at high speed on the sidewalk, and was hit by a car exiting from a parking lot", or "The rider hit a pot hole at the intersection of ABC and XYZ, lost control of his bike and was run over by a bus": Now, this sort of journalism would be educational for many bicyclists and warrant discussion - but alas, such reporting is in most cases non-existent!

The typical newspaper article therefore contains no or very little information that we collectively as a bicycling community can learn anything useful from: By publishing mere news about such accidents - in the newspaper or on SDBikeCommuter - the only thing we achieve is for bicyclists to ride less, not at all, or to be defensive and nervous when we ride in traffic: We all know that being overly defensive might mean not to exert ones rights in traffic - for example by staying in the right-turn lane even when you need to go straight, by riding on the sidewalk when you should be in the roadway, or by being too preoccupied with motor cars to notice the pot hole in front of you!

Simply reporting on bicycle accidents without any educational information is not only a waste of time, it is counter productive to the goal of getting people out of cars and onto bikes, and to confidently co-exist with cars.

Well, to be honest, the only time bicyclists get in the mainstream news in San Diego, it's usually because they've been hit by a car or something else bad has happened to them. In some cases (as in the trolley crossing incident) the bicyclist is at fault, while in others, the car driver is clearly at fault. The intention isn't to dwell on the negative, but to bring these sorts of matters to the attention of the group. I think useful information is being communicated in the process, since bringing these issues to the group helps clarify our collective stance. It's not the content of the linked articles that's important necessarily, but the act of bringing them to the attention of the community.

For instance, as Praxis pointed out above, the pedicab issue could potentially affect all of us as riders, and we need to be aware of the ramifications of any city ordinance directed at pedal-powered transportation. And I wouldn't say that this board is necessarily aimed at people who consider bicycling a sport. We're a community that needs to be aware of the issues and events that affect the community, including the often harsh reality that sometimes bicyclists get killed. I can't imagine any other group of like-minded folks who would let that pass without notice. Often, these will appear to be "negative" or "counter productive" but I would rather these issues be aired here than ignored completely.

That being said, I would *love* to have the local press cover happier bicycling stories. Alternatively, perhaps we need to adopt the role of "citizen journalists" and start posting our own positive bicycling news on this thread.

In that vein, the city appears to be resurfacing the horrid intersection at Pershing and Wightman (right outside my house) in North Park this week. The North Park neighborhood as a whole seems to be getting more attention from road crews lately, which means smoother cycling in one of the city's busiest bicycling 'hoods. Is anyone else noticing road work taking place in their central or uptown neighborhoods?

The one I recently posted was not an accident. The woman hit the bicycle intentionally. The rider managed to get out of the way, but the bike was stuck under her vehicle and dragged for miles.

Personally, I'm very concerned about incidents like this. I've been threatened many times, while riding completely legally, by people who do not understand the rules of the road. I think we need more public education about bicyclists rights to the road and the circumstances under which they do not need to keep the far right. It has to start from somewhere. Why not here?

I google alert several things; one of which is "bicylce hit and run". Accidents will happen, they are a fact of life. We can mitigate all we like, but odds are someone will get hurt. Hit and run accidents, on the other hand, completely piss me off. And, if you knew how many PUBLISHED hit and runs there are in the US every week.. it might suprise you. What is wierd is the lack of outrage about hit and runs. One of the local riders here in SD was a victim of a hit and run. No real news story, no real big fuss. The loosing PADRES get more coverage than someone who is hit, and left to deal with a HUGE medical bill, and piece together life and patch together their body.

I think, in my opinion, making us slightly aware of accidents, alerts us to dangerous intersections we may need to avoid, or bring to the forefront of city council, etc. We may, as individuals, experience a bad street and chaulk it up to ourselves. But, if collectively we discuss things, we may find out that a group of people are dealing with it, and try to make a change.

SDCBC is a good place to put this information out to as well: if you can get past some of the folks on the email list who tend to dominate e-conversations.

Local cycling champion, coach, advocate, and all around great guy Randy Clark passed away yesterday morning after a brief battle with an aggressive form of melanoma. He won his last masters state jersey at the ADT Velodrome in Carson on June 20.

By now you have probably heard that Randy Clark passed away yesterday morning.It is very sad news that the local track cycling community has lost one of its biggest supporters.Randy was most alive when he was at the track, and those of us that were closest to him feel it is only fitting that we hold his memorial service there.The memorial service will be Saturday at 1pm at the San Diego Velodrome.The preliminary plan is to have a short group service and allow people to say what they wish publicly. Then line up on the track, single file, with Dano leading the group, and take silent laps in his honor. Riders will peel off one at a time to go to the infield to leave whatever they wish at his memorial and have their private moment for reflection with him.If there are any family members that wish to ride, then we should probably have them lead.Dano will be followed by anyone that worked with him at bike shops over the years. After them will be any cyclists that are present. The line will end will anyone that is or has been a Leader / Big City Velo rider, with J Hines at the end of that group and Becky being the final rider.

A small group of San Diego bicycle bloggers has just launched a new site called, appropriately, Bike San Diego. Drawing inspiration from sites such as BikePortland and Streetsblog, the primary mission of Bike San Diego is simple: to provide a one-stop source for bicycle-related news, events, and advocacy in America's Finest City. This is an all-volunteer effort at citizen journalism by and for bicycle riders in metro San Diego and San Diego County.

BikeSD.org is in pre-launch status right now; the site is up and content is flowing, but the editors are accepting suggestions from the community as the site takes shape. This is your site, riders of San Diego, be the change you would like to see in the world and help us provide content that is relevant to you! Please send your comments, suggestions and tips by filling out the Contact Us form at BikeSD.org.

A bill recently got passed, that would make it legal to ride seatless bicycles in CA starting on 1/1/10. I saw a picture of the type of bike referred in the bill (called seatless elliptical bikes) and was wondering...why in the world would anyone use this type of bike? Are they targeting the segway crowd?

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Another one of those oddball bikes that came out was mentioned earlier on these boards (Yike Bike). These new fangled "bikes" are a bit of a head scratcher? What exactly is wrong with a regular old, peddle (on pedals) everywhere bicycle?

And...every time I see one of these new inventions I wonder, how would a seatless elliptical bike fare on San Diego's hills?

These elliptical bikes look very uncomfortable...all that energy being expended and one can't even sit down!

that elliptical bike looks difficult with you tossing your weight side to side. any why? it's mimicking a pedal stroke sooooo why not ride a bike, the most efficient human powered transportation ever invented. it's like going backwards in technology.

I was riding near fiesta island a few weeks ago and saw the elliptical bikes. The company who makes them (which I assume is local) had two they were letting people get on and try. They look goofy and inefficient. I think they will be sold more as exercise machines than as a means of recreation or transportation.

Who would have thought that the seatless elliptical bicycle lobby is that strong? There's always people out there with more money than brains, and they will happily plop down a couple hundred for one of these things, use it twice, and then put it in the garage. Those same people do it with bicycles, too. It's all about conspicuous consumption, lack of consumer maturity, and an over-appreciation for the new and novel, rather than the tested and useful. Sigurd, I bet I can out-retro-grouch-and-fuddy-duddy you any day!

Senator Kehoe, from San Diego, actually had the seatless bike bill passed. I received an e-newsletter from her office touting the bills she passed, which included this one. However, when I first saw it, I just scratched my head trying to figure out why anyone wouldn't want a seat on his bike. Originally not aware of the elliptical seatless bikes, it made slightly less sense.

Seatless Bicycles (SB 527): This bill would allow bicycles designed to operate without a seat to be legally ridden on streets.

tomorrow the Fox morning news is doing a story on being "green" or something like that. they'll be doing this segment with two of my Rando style bikes. the gold rando with the Honjo fenders and the Astro Daimler. i think they said it airs on the 7 and 8am broadcasts.

yeah, i love that. hear it all day. it also bums me out when people call us a fixed gear store. nothing could be further from the truth. in fact we have only two fixed gears which is far fewer than ANY shop in the uptown/downtown area. people think "Velo Cult" means Track bike cult. Velo Cult is short for velo culture which means Bike Culture in French.

but still, probably for the first time there's Randonneuring style bikes on the morning news in San Diego. it's a start. i had VERY low expectations of this since Fox News was running it so im not too worried about it.

Um, rather mean-spirited to turn driving into a game of "gotcha" 24/7. It's hardly your fault or mine that SD agreed to pay employees more than it could afford and hasn't the guts clawback what they illegally got from illegal deals. Instead of ticketing drivers for driving and bankrupting citizens, we should LICENSE BICYCLES (ahem) and get some fees from these two wheeled, critical mass scofflaws. We could also hire a city attorney to follow the law and take back what the city employees aren't entitled to. And we could make it easier to open small businesses here and get rid of onerous Code Enforcement types who fine businesses for the crime of having a sandwich board outside their shops, or putting tables and chairs outside restaurants, etc. Increased business would stimulate this economy; robbing the people won't.

Posted by Vic | reply to this commentOctober 21, 2009 1:53 pm

I've already posted my response to his comment:

Um, rather mean spirited to take out your aggression towards Critical Mass against every person who chooses to ride a bicycle. What an ignorant statement. Maybe we should LICENSE PEDESTRIANS (ahem) since they are using the street also. There is no discussion here about "ticketing drivers for driving." The discussion is about ticketing drivers for BREAKING LAWS (ahem). There is a reason that operation of a motor vehicle requires a license. They are massive machines capable of very high speeds and can cause severe amounts of damage and carnage with even the slightest mistake. When was the last time you heard of a bicyclist killing several school children because he mistook his pedals for his brake lever?